Everything is fine here! Everyone at work has been very helpful in getting me acquainted with the facility. I even got to meet Josie Woolley herself!
I know you’ve been worried about me making friends, but I feel like I’ve been getting really close with my lab partner, Alex. She’s been really welcoming and has even invited me to hang out with her and some of the other engineers!
My place here is a little smaller than I’m used to back on earth, but I like it. It’s cozy and I’ve been making enough here that it looks really nice. I wish you could come by and see it sometime!
Anyway, I need to get back to work. I’ve been put on a project for introducing new crops to the biosphere here and I’m really excited about the progress I’m making.
Tell dad I said hi!
-Joan
A tear tapped the send key before Joan’s finger could. She didn’t like lying to her parents, but what else could she do? Her parents couldn’t fix everything anymore, not from 238,900 miles away.
Joan leaned back onto her headboard and let out a shuddering sigh as more tears began to follow. After one year of the work events, bar crawls, and late nights in the lab, she had nothing to show for it. Her co-workers didn’t even recognise her when she came into work, the security guard eyed her suspiciously every day as she handed him the same badge that she had worn since her sophomoric smile was sealed in its laminant tomb.
She wiped her face with the back of her hand, serving only to temporarily dam the streams before they reconnected with her chin. She knew she couldn’t keep pulling herself up day after day like this, knowing her only reward would be a few hours of sleep where the pangs of loneliness were shrouded by dreams.
She sniffed hard, and wiped her face with faltering determination. She would go out again tonight, she had to keep trying or she would go crazy in this hole. She looked around to solidify her will to leave, taking in the small stove and refrigerator that encompased the entirety of her 5 foot by 5 foot kitchen. The bright neon lighting that outlined the room reflected off the cold stainless steel of the ceiling and walls, only to find solace in the coarse rug that tried its best to provide comfort.
Joan planted her feet onto the floor,. With a shaky breath, she took her weight onto her own two legs and headed out the door, rode the elevator down the 83 floors to the lobby, and out of her apartment building.
The heavily manufactured air felt stuffy, reminding her that existence here was comparable to being trapped in a room with thousands of strangers. Strangers who took one look at her next to the glow of the neon railings lining the streets and knew she was an outsider. Unable to purge that lipstick left by the sun’s kiss back on earth, the glowing city denied her the reflective skin of her peers. She was marked as an outcast before she arrived, ensuring her loneliness in her small apartment on the 83rd floor. Her hair and makeup weren’t helping her tonight like they usually did. Green and red lights danced across the disheveled bun she had so neatly prepared for work that morning, hoping Alex might make a note and strike up conversation.
She didn’t.
Her makeup was smeared from her earlier fit. She was a faded version of her former self. Torn away, piece by piece as she kept putting more of herself out into this world hoping someone might give something in return.
They didn’t.
While wallowing through her haze of self-loathing, she stumbled upon a building that unabashedly advertised itself as “BAR” in red and white neon lights. She stared at the building for a while. Collecting her thoughts and self-awareness before entering. She thought about the bars she had been to before, about sitting all poised and perfect hoping for someone to take notice and talk to her. She thought about the times she had tried taking initiative, gathering up her courage and talking to other people who were sitting all poised and perfect at the bar. Whether it was this bar or another, it ended the same. She went in with a warm heart and was met by a cold shoulder.
Joan placed one hand on the smooth faux wood of the door, tapping tentatively with her fingertips as she weighed her options. She bit her lip, tasting the dried tears that had been waiting to be released. She took another shuddering breath, absorbing the faint smells of grain alcohol that pushed their way through the seams of the doorway.
Heaving the door open, Joan found herself joining a merry group of bar-goers. The music was upbeat and the people’s faces were as red as the upholstery. The ceiling and walls of the bar were covered with the same faux wood paneling that adorned the doorway, inviting a sense of home and belonging for people who had not been raised in the laboratory of Neo Miami.
Joan pushed through the jolly group of people, now drunkenly singing the national anthem, and sat next to a sweet, brown-haired girl with big brown eyes and skin that held memories of the sun. She wore a blue dress highlighted with a single white neon circle on the back, and her bare feet were tucked neatly under the bar stool. There she sat, poised and perfect.
Joan got the attention of the robotic server, eliciting a beer as artificial as the smile it was served with. Taking a gulp of the piney water, she turned to the girl and offered a quick “Hi.” The moments following her greeting stretched into hours. Joan had hoped that the girl had heard, that she would turn and notice her and offer her something in return.
Everything is fine here! Everyone at work has been very helpful in getting me acquainted with the facility. I even got to meet Josie Woolley herself!
I know you’ve been worried about me making friends, but I feel like I’ve been getting really close with my lab partner, Alex. She’s been really welcoming and has even invited me to hang out with her and some of the other engineers!
My place here is a little smaller than I’m used to back on earth, but I like it. It’s cozy and I’ve been making enough here that it looks really nice. I wish you could come by and see it sometime!
Anyway, I need to get back to work. I’ve been put on a project for introducing new crops to the biosphere here and I’m really excited about the progress I’m making.
Tell dad I said hi!
-Joan
A tear tapped the send key before Joan’s finger could. She didn’t like lying to her parents, but what else could she do? Her parents couldn’t fix everything anymore, not from 238,900 miles away.
Joan leaned back onto her headboard and let out a shuddering sigh as more tears began to follow. After one year of the work events, bar crawls, and late nights in the lab, she had nothing to show for it. Her co-workers didn’t even recognise her when she came into work, the security guard eyed her suspiciously every day as she handed him the same badge that she had worn since her sophomoric smile was sealed in its laminant tomb.
She wiped her face with the back of her hand, serving only to temporarily dam the streams before they reconnected with her chin. She knew she couldn’t keep pulling herself up day after day like this, knowing her only reward would be a few hours of sleep where the pangs of loneliness were shrouded by dreams.
She sniffed hard, and wiped her face with faltering determination. She would go out again tonight, she had to keep trying or she would go crazy in this hole. She looked around to solidify her will to leave, taking in the small stove and refrigerator that encompased the entirety of her 5 foot by 5 foot kitchen. The bright neon lighting that outlined the room reflected off the cold stainless steel of the ceiling and walls, only to find solace in the coarse rug that tried its best to provide comfort.
Joan planted her feet onto the floor,. With a shaky breath, she took her weight onto her own two legs and headed out the door, rode the elevator down the 83 floors to the lobby, and out of her apartment building.
The heavily manufactured air felt stuffy, reminding her that existence here was comparable to being trapped in a room with thousands of strangers. Strangers who took one look at her next to the glow of the neon railings lining the streets and knew she was an outsider. Unable to purge that lipstick left by the sun’s kiss back on earth, the glowing city denied her the reflective skin of her peers. She was marked as an outcast before she arrived, ensuring her loneliness in her small apartment on the 83rd floor. Her hair and makeup weren’t helping her tonight like they usually did. Green and red lights danced across the disheveled bun she had so neatly prepared for work that morning, hoping Alex might make a note and strike up conversation.
She didn’t.
Her makeup was smeared from her earlier fit. She was a faded version of her former self. Torn away, piece by piece as she kept putting more of herself out into this world hoping someone might give something in return.
They didn’t.
While wallowing through her haze of self-loathing, she stumbled upon a building that unabashedly advertised itself as “BAR” in red and white neon lights. She stared at the building for a while. Collecting her thoughts and self-awareness before entering. She thought about the bars she had been to before, about sitting all poised and perfect hoping for someone to take notice and talk to her. She thought about the times she had tried taking initiative, gathering up her courage and talking to other people who were sitting all poised and perfect at the bar. Whether it was this bar or another, it ended the same. She went in with a warm heart and was met by a cold shoulder.
Joan placed one hand on the smooth faux wood of the door, tapping tentatively with her fingertips as she weighed her options. She bit her lip, tasting the dried tears that had been waiting to be released. She took another shuddering breath, absorbing the faint smells of grain alcohol that pushed their way through the seams of the doorway.
Heaving the door open, Joan found herself joining a merry group of bar-goers. The music was upbeat and the people’s faces were as red as the upholstery. The ceiling and walls of the bar were covered with the same faux wood paneling that adorned the doorway, inviting a sense of home and belonging for people who had not been raised in the laboratory of Neo Miami.
Joan pushed through the jolly group of people, now drunkenly singing the national anthem, and sat next to a sweet, brown-haired girl with big brown eyes and skin that held memories of the sun. She wore a blue dress highlighted with a single white neon circle on the back, and her bare feet were tucked neatly under the bar stool. There she sat, poised and perfect.
Joan got the attention of the robotic server, eliciting a beer as artificial as the smile it was served with. Taking a gulp of the piney water, she turned to the girl and offered a quick “Hi.” The moments following her greeting stretched into hours. Joan had hoped that the girl had heard, that she would turn and notice her and offer her something in return.
She did.